Ukrainian Americans gather in New Haven to memorialize those who died in Kiev, pray for peace

(Peter Casolino-New Haven Register) Hope Langer-Marshall of Plainville cries during a memorial service at St. Michaels Ukrainian Church (New Haven) for those killed in the Ukraine during the past weeks. pcasolino@NewHavenRegister

They also collected donations for medical supplies for the crisis, in which hundreds have been injured.

Parishioners were joined by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Mayor Toni Harp and former congressman and University of New Haven President Larry DeNardis, who was part of a team of international election observers in Ukraine back in 2004,

After lighting candles during a short memorial service following regular Sunday services, parishioners walked over to the church hall for a formal candle lighting ceremony, at which the names of 55 of the “demonstrators and militia men who perished” were read.

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Myron Melnyk, director of the Ukrainian Studies School at St. Michael’s, told the crowd of well over 100 people that the names read were “a partial list” and that the death told had climbed over 80 by Sunday mornng.

Despite very recent tumultuous change in Ukraine that many people in the room cautiously viewed as positive, “it’s not a time for euphoria, because the hard part starts now,” Melnyk said.

But many wonder how Russian President Vladimir Putin will react, and worry because Russia controls the energy that flows into Ukraine, among other things. Melnyk said Putin “has a tremendous amount of leverage.”

Many Ukrainian and Ukrainian Americans also worry that separatists could rise up in largely Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, which has cultural differences from western Ukraine.

Blumenthal, who also attended similar gatherings Sunday at St. Vladimir Cathedral in Stamford and the Ukrainian National Home in Willimantic, told the crowd that as a father of four children “I cannot help but feel the pain and the grief of losing such young, wonderful people.

“On an occasion like this...the hearts and prayers of my family go out to the people of Ukraine, the families who have lost loved ones or who’ve been injured...” Blumenthal said.

“We are here today, very simply, to make sure that their lives are not lost in vain” he said. One goal is to insure “that there will be a path to self-determination and Democracy and freedom...”

The U.S. should provide to Ukraine aid, as well as threaten sanctions “so they are not held hostage by Russia or anyone else,” Blumenthal said.

“My prayer this morning is not only for Democracy, but for an end to the bloodshed, so that young people...will be part of a living future...” Blumenthal said, “and the United States of America should hopefully lead the way.”

Mayor Harp told the crowd that “I and the people of New Haven are in solidarity with you,” and that “there is a sweet and beautiful spirit” that was present in the church during services.

A staffer of U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, read a statement from her, which said, among other things, that “my thoughts and prayers are with you.”

While most in the crowd was associated with St. Michael’s, one young woman, Oksana Kirichenko — a native of Kiev — said that on “in the Maidan,” or Independence Square in Kiev, “and right now in this church,” people from both the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church stand together.

Kirichenko said she was a member of St. Mary’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in New Haven.

DeNardis, who has become a bit of an expert on Ukrainian affairs since serving on an international delegation to oversee the 2004 elections — which the delegation found to be unfair — said it was “my very fervante hope” that the current events will complete the “Orange Revolution” that began back then.

That is “the most abiding concern of the Ukrainian people,” DeNardis said.

“Dear friends, here were are again at a central moment in the history of Ukraine,” DeNardis said. “We’ve been here before...during the Orange Revolution,” after the Russian-backed government declared victory “and we knew that was not the case.”

At that time, the corruption was so pervasive “that we couldn’t even use diplomatic language in our report,” DeNardis said.

“I know that powers-that-be in Ukraine and I have seen that they have done, but I am hopeful that this time it will be different,” he said.

He said he sees three significant problems currently in Ukraine, including a financial bankruptcy, “corruption levels that are inane — they are off the chart and need to be corrected” — and “a broken government.”

But “Those are all problems that can be fixed,” DeNardis said.

In the audience, parishioner Dionizia Brochinsky of Orange said afterwards that she left Ukraine when she was eight years old after going through German “displaced persons camps” after World War II. But she still worries about the country of her birth.

Parioshioner Bohdanna Sendich of Milford, who was born in Germany during the time that her parents were in displaced persons camps, said that the recent events are very significant. “To us, it is the rebirth of a nation,” she said.

Sendich — whose daughter, Maritz Larysa Sendhich, went to Kiev in December because she had to see the events in person — couldn’t help but imagine what her late parents might think if “they saw the rejoice of the people.”

For Stephanija Berezowskyj, 58, of Guilford, who was born in this country and baptized at St. Michael’s, recent events are just as momentous.

“Your heart hurts for these people,” said Berezowskyj, who still relatives in Ukraine. “They want to live like us...The don’t want anyone telling them how to live their lives.